1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to stator winding and, more particularly, to a tool and method for use in stator winding to facilitate pressing wire against the teeth of a stator during a winding operation.
2. Related Prior Art
Field winding coils for stators are generally placed on the radially inwardly extending teeth of a stator by either preforming the coils and then pressing the preformed coils over the stator teeth, or by winding the coils directly onto the stator teeth. In the process where the coils are preformed, the coils are pushed onto the stator by a coil pusher which forcibly pushes the coils over the teeth of the stator, and a forming tool, or forming tools, may be provided to shape the wire in the stator slots and around the ends of the teeth in order to compactly position the coils on the stator. In such a construction, excess wire must be provided for the preformed coils in order to accommodate the necessary distortions of the coils as they are pressed over and around the stator teeth. Accordingly, such a construction has been found to provide an inefficient amount of wire, as well as result in a larger stator dimension as a result of the excess coil wire extending around the end faces of the teeth for the stator.
In the alternative process for providing field windings, wire is fed from a winding spindle directly onto a stator wherein the wire is successively wound around the stator teeth, and the efficiency of the winding operation is substantially dependent on the ability to direct the wire to desired locations on the teeth as it is fed from the winding spindle. For example, such a winding operation often incorporates various structures to guide the wire to desired locations in the slots throughout the winding process. However, it has been found that even with guiding of the wire to desired locations in the slots, the wire formed around adjacent teeth defining each slot does not necessarily lie in close contact with the teeth such that the number of windings that may be placed around the teeth is limited by the efficiency of the wire placement in the slots.